Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “Fred Gardner”

Bill Veeck

Slightly condensed from an article in the March 1949 American Legion Magazine by Paul Gardner (my dad, whose folder of yellowed clippings I’ve been looking through.) In mid-summer of 1946 Bill Veeck limped into Cleveland…

Cockburn & The 41ers

Alexander Cockburn, the most incisive political journalist of our time, was born on June 6, 1941 (the year of the snake). I sent him this in ‘91: Greetings to our favorite lefty, Alexander Cockburn, 50…

Coining Anti-Semitism

There was no such thing as “semitism” when Wilhelm Marr, a German journalist/political organizer, coined the term “antisemitism” to mean prejudice against Jews. When Marr founded “The Anti-Semitic League” in 1879, why didn't he use…

Hopeful Signs

Are you ready for some hopeful news? “Hundreds of military children who are students at Defense Department schools across the globe walked out of class Thursday to protest book bans, curriculum changes and restrictions on…

Political Flashback

The removal of 381 books from the US Naval Academy Nimitz library last week was flashback-inducing for your correspondent. When Sen. Joseph McCarthy was at the peak of his power in March, 1953, Dashiell Hammett…

Trippet Saga

"Stealing From the Rich: The Home-Stake Oil Swindle" by David C. McClintick (Evans, 1977) recounts how a Tulsa, Oklahoma lawyer named Robert Trippet masterminded the most lucrative Ponzi scheme of the 20th century. (Bernie Madoff…

‘Future Soldiers’

Many US citizens who want to join the Armed Services are too overweight or too poorly educated to qualify. (Eighth-grade level math and reading skills are required.) To meet its recruiting goals, in 2022 the…

Trigger Reactions

It might have been the very first issue. Someone with no experience was trying to set type using a Macintosh and was being taught over the phone, by someone in New York, how to paste…

Fascism Arrives

"This is Fascism" is the title of a Counterpunch Radio show featuring Ralph Nader that aired March 18. Those same words had crossed my mind two days before. The thought must be occurring to millions…

-